Co-piloting Introduction The extent of service user involvement, or ‘co-production’, in many aspects of inpatient care, from membership of Trust boards to imaginative and genuine control of their care planning is impressive and heartening. These are richly illustrated by the ward examples below but we’ll nip across the Atlantic for a particularly radical take on…

Feedbackwards and forwards Introduction Odds are your ward already systematically collects information on patients’ experiences and opinions. Your Trust probably has a quality, audit, service improvement etc department and your ward its own methods for finding out how patients feel about being in hospital. From the formal (academic studies, annual surveys, focus groups etc), to…

FOUND in translation Poster for Lost in Translation – in Hebrew. Introduction Imagine walking into a new job or social situation where nobody speaks your language. How do you find out what the routine is? Ask for the toilet? Talk to someone about how you’re feeling? Many people for whom English is a second language,…

Planning ahead Introduction Whether they’re called, Advance Directives, Advance Statements , Advance Decisions or, frankly anything along these lines, it is highly beneficial to have information about their care preferences from patients when they are in a good mental state to provide it. The legal situation is that the Mental Capacity Act 2005 gives people…

Managing my meds myself Introduction When patients return home, especially if they’re living relatively independently, they need to be able to manage their medication. Being in hospital is the perfect opportunity to refine this skill, and to learn about any new medication they might have been prescribed. As we describe below, taking medication ‘the…

Open sesame! Introduction There is considerable controversy about what to do about enabling patients to have appropriate access to their bedroom and the outside world, while minimising risks. There is a totally simple solution – patients having fobs, wristbands, swipe-cards or the equivalent electronic device. These can be programmed for individuals’ rooms, the ward door,…